@wa19026

From the play Othello I chose lines 188-196 from Act I Scene 3. In this section, I played the character of Othello as he explains how he earned D’s love. In recording this passage I saw how important the vocal

Great job on the construction of this essay being supported by facts and court cases. I agree with the conclusion that students should not be stripped of their Constitutional rights when they walk through the school doors. If the students’ online speech does not substantially interfere with the operations of the school as cited in…[Read more]

The modern world is full of technological innovation that seems to become increasingly more complex by the day. This technology has provided us with easy communication, shopping, security, and simplifying our

Gun violence and lawmaking is one of the foremost issues that we are facing today. The culture of gun use and violence in the United States is like that of nowhere else in the world. This is an issue that goes far beyond the average citizen and is something that needs to be remedied at the national level. The limitation of gun ownership…[Read more]

I think this is a very important topic with todays youth as I have seen a drastic rise of the number of people who experience depression. It it important to understand the underlying causes of teen depression, even with so many factors. I believe today’s teens experience much more stress in their lives than previous generations, as…[Read more]

I think it is a really good idea to believe in self discipline and thinking positively about things in your life. While most things are out of our control, we can always control how we react. Keeping an open mind and thinking of everything as having a positive effect can really change a persons view on life. I think this Law of Attraction is…[Read more]

Hi Beatrice,
I enjoyed reading this post and it is a very good point that you make. You should never make assumptions about people from what you see or hear until you meet that person for yourself. I found this article on judging a book by its cover, a common saying for judging others:…[Read more]

Madi, I think you wrote a great piece of abortion and enjoyed how you used the specific stories to show both sides of the debate. Although I enjoyed reading it, I am interested in why you used an example from outside of the US. If you were trying to establish a global view of abortion here is a resource on how the abortion laws in the US have…[Read more]

Minimum wage is a heavily debated topic in the United States. Views on the issue range from making the minimum wage a livable salary to abolishing the minimum wage altogether. This issue itself is divided between

Good job on discussing the possible pros and cons of a difficult ethical topic. I like how you summarized the main argument of each side in a concise sentence. One thing that I feel could have been added is possible other solutions to horrendous crime to replace the death penalty. While you give good reasons to keep or abolish it, you did not give…[Read more]

Great job on the post James. You did a good job at providing factual evidence for the issue and using scientific understanding to further add to your point. You bring up reasons that I did not previously know like the plastics in the bottles being endocrine system disrupters. I have to agree that legislation is probably required because as much as…[Read more]

I like the way you gave two different reasons for decline of milks popularity. I did not think about the advent of different drink alternatives as one of the causes of milks decline. I have noticed the general decline of milk drinking, especially in a family that does not drink milk due to the calcium. Overall, great job on the milk education.

Standardized testing is used in the US system in order to gauge what a student has learned and college readiness. Standardized tests such as the ACT and the SAT are important steps in the path toward college.

Interesting topic, William. This topic stood out to me because I think the ACT standardized test is a very unfair way to learn about how intelligent someone is. For example I have a higher than average GPA and I take rigorous courses; I would consider myself an outgoing student. However, my ACT score is much lower than a lot of other people’s which might be misleading to colleges if they rely solely on my test scores for admission. They do have other portions for admission which includes an essay, letters of recommendation from teachers, your grades from high school, along with everything else included in your application. This is a very interesting topic to be further discussed!

I think your topic was very interesting because as seniors in high school we have all experienced and had to study for standardized testing. You made some very interesting points that I have personally experienced, and I think that bringing awareness to this issue is very important. Do you have any ideas on how to possibly fix this?

William,
This topic seems to be coming up a lot lately. I agree with you on the fact that standardized testing is unfair to students. Many people get test anxiety and the thought of being timed to finish a test makes matters worse. Also, many students do not do well under pressure and don’t like the generic, one sided questions and answers of the SAT and ACT. Along with the thought of essays being biased while graded, I completely agree. The person grading essays may have certain opinions or may not like the style of writing the student used. Have you heard that some colleges don’t look at SAT scores and essays? I find that interesting and think it is a good idea. Since standardized tests are asking students to answer meaningless questions and not think creatively I believe colleges should avoid looking at scores to accept students into their school. I think your argument is thorough and thought out very well!

About us

This is a youth-powered social network that was started in 2003 by a group of teachers from local sites of the National Writing Project.

We merged several earlier blogging projects. We have found that there are many advantages to bringing students together in one site that lives beyond any particular class. It's easier for individual students to read and write about their own passions, to connect with other students, comment on each other's work, and create multimedia posts for each other. Further, it's been exciting for us to pool our knowledge about curriculum, connected learning, and digital literacies.

If being part of such a community makes sense to you, we invite you to join us. We welcome all youth and any teacher interested in having students publish online and participate in the give and take of a social network like Youth Voices.